We are having the most unusual weather in Seattle. Just last week it was snowing and today we had weather in the 60 degree range. Blue skies, sunshine, and above 60 degrees makes it “shorts” and “tank-top” weather around here. You have to live in Seattle to appreciate days like this – we’ve had a very gray, cold, wet winter. People around here celebrate the sunshine with BBQ’s, cold beer, iced tea, and yard work.
Because of the awesome weather today I decided to make a salad for dinner. It is inspired by some take out my sister brought me from Seattle Deli, a very popular Vietnamese deli in South Seattle. The BBQ Pork I grilled was spectacular exceeding my exceptions. I couldn’t stop eating it!
This is the perfect salad to serve for lunch or dinner on a warm spring/summer night. So refreshing and so filling! If you find yourself enjoying some warm sunshine, consider this salad. You won’t regret it.
- Pork Marinade
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 2 pounds pork butt or country style ribs
- Salad Dressing Ingredients:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ lime juice
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- ¼ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 2 cloves of chopped garlic
- Salad Ingredients:
- 4 cups chopped green leaf lettuce
- 4 oz. (one bundle) rice vermicelli noodles cooked
- 1 cup chopped toasted peanuts
- 1 cup julienne carrots
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup Thai basil chopped
- ¼ cup green onion slivered
- 1 cup toasted peanuts
- To make the marinade add the lime juice, water, fish sauce, olive oil, soy sauce, and sugar to a small sauce pan. Whisk the ingredients then cook the sauce (to a boil) then remove from heat. Transfer the sauce to a medium bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- When the sauce is ready, add the onions and pork. Massage the meat with your hands for a few minutes. Allow the meat to marinate for at least 1 hour, but overnight is best.
- To make the salad dressing, whisk all the dressing ingredients and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Ideally, the dressing should be made several hours ahead of time in order to give the sugar time to dissolve. If you need the dressing sooner, feel free to cook the dressing on the stove and whisk the liquids until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the dressing to cool down before using.
- When you’re ready to make the salad bowl, cook the vermicelli noodles according to package instructions, making sure to drain and rinse the noodles in cold water. Set aside. *You may want to use kitchen shears to cut the noodles a few times. This makes it easier to handle and distribute the noodles between plates.
- Pre-heat a grill pan or grill on medium high heat. Lightly season the pork with salt and pepper just before cooking. Cook the pork until the internal temperature is 140F degrees. Remove the meat from heat and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Cut the pork in thin slices against the grain or into bite sized pieces.
- Side note: I typically grill meat indoors using my cast iron grill.
- To assemble the salad, layer the lettuce on the bottom of each plate (4-6 servings). Add the noodles in the center of each bowl on top of the lettuce. Take the individual elements like the pork, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, and green onions and place them around the noodles on the outer edge of the plate/bowl. Lastly, top each salad off with the toasted peanuts.
- Serve each salad with individual bowls of salad dressing for dipping or tossing into the salad directly. Enjoy!
This is the second time I have made this. I tweaked the dressing by decreasing the sugar to 1/2 cup, increasing the garlic to three cloves and adding 1 1/2 Tbs. of Orange Juice. This “secret ingredient” was given to me by a sweet lady from Vietnam who use to have a restaurant. My Husband and I thought it was so much better. We will definately be making it often.
My Husband and I tried this tonight. We loved it! We have tried many similar versions of this dish in restaurants and decided to try it at home. So glad we did. The Thai basil was a nice touch.
You forgot lemon grass in the marinade. It’s essential for this recipe
Hi. I made just the pork part maybe a month ago and will be making it tomorrow night. I also was not sure on the sugar unit, but went with cup unit because I find that Vietnamese is a little sweet. It turned out a little sweet for my taste buds and plan on cutting back on the amount of sugar this time.
Most importantly my picky 2.5 year old daughter loved it! She rarely eats meat, but ate almost a whole pork chop seasoned with this marinade recipe. I hope cutting sugar doesn’t affect her consumption.
You have a great website. Thanks for sharing.
Making this tonight, looks really great. Have a couple questions for you, though: How much sugar goes into the marinade? (“2/3 Sugar”) also, is it correct that the dressing takes 2/3 cup of sugar? Just seems like a lot to my amateur eyes. Thanks!
Hi Julie,
I don’t have a favorite brand. I just buy what is on sale typically. However, I’m wondering if the recipes you are using call for too much fish sauce. I would use less.. a lot less if you don’t like the taste. Fish sauce is a flavoring agent to add deep layered flavor and it can be overpowering. Hope this helps.
I just came across your recipe. I love ordering this salad at Vietnamese restaurants, but when I have tried to make other versions of it at home, the taste isn’t quite the same. I am convinced that the problem is the fish sauce. There are so many brands available and I don’t know which one is a good one. What brand do you use? I also live in Seattle so I have access to Uwajimia. Thanks for finally giving me a solution.
Oh my gosh, that looks fabulous! Gave me a huge craving. 🙂
Thanks for sharing another great recipe with me! I can’t wait to make it for my family tonight! I am sure they are going to love it! Thanks again.
Looking forward to reading your post!
Love bun thit nuong! I used to live and work right by seattle deli and it was always a good deal. we actually made it this weekend so will be posting our version of this soon!
Hey, everybody is going to have to get up way before breakfast to meet the quality of your recipes and blog. Wow!
I looooove this dish. It’s always such a dilemma when I go to vietnamese restaurants. This or pho? Oh, how I love both!
Oh yum! I love the BBQ pork dishes at our locak Vietnamese place. This looks really nice!
Thanks everyone for your kind words.
BA: I bet the salad was good with the salmon and pineapple. I also had this salad the day after I made it and I was surprised how well the lettuce held up considering it sat overnight in my fridge with dressing on it. Thanks for the followup!
The salad, particularly the pork, looks delicious. I’m with you on the weather – enough already! Yesterday it was actually snowing. Today it was nearly 60. Ugh!
This salad looks so fresh and tasty and good!
Wow, this looks and sounds heavenly! I think you have a career in food photography, you are seriously talented.
Alice – just an update:
Had leftovers for lunch today, minus the noodles, topped with grilled salmon, fresh pineapple and avocado! Unfortunately, it was too small of a portion of salmon to do the marinade again, but the dressing was great the day after.
Alice your pictures are all amazing, keep up the great work !
That’s awesome. I always order this BBQ Pork Salad at Vietnamese restaurants. Now I can follow your recipe to try at home. Thanks a million!
We did have such a great weekend here in Seattle. I have to admit that I wore shorts! It was too nice not to!
Your salad looks great. I love to get this at Vietnamese restaruants!
Screamin Mama: Thanks for your kind words. I am a visual person so taking pictures of the food we eat here has been a great joy and hobby.
BA: I’m so glad to hear you made this and you liked it. Although its been back to dreary weather here again, I plan on making this often this summer.
Just made this for dinner! I used chicken instead and it turned out great! Fantastic recipe, thanks!
That looks absolutely delicious!! Your pics are amazing…making my mouth water…